Digital Trends

Samsung P2 4GB December 27th, 2007 | by Mike Kobrin

Setup and Use

Syncing the P2 with Windows Media Player in Win XP Pro and Vista is no problem. WMP converts your videos into P2-friendly WMV format, though the player also supports MPEG-4 in Samsung’s SVI format and WMV9 (DRMed movies), as well as JPEG for photos. Audio support includes WMA (including protected), OGG (in mass storage mode) and MP3 out of the box, however the latest firmware update adds AAC audio support and Bluetooth file transfers. So make sure you visit the Samsung website to make sure your P2 is up-to-date.

The touchscreen is responsive and the interface speed is fine. Navigation is simple but may take some time to learn if you’re used to the iPhone or iPod touch, partly because you have to double-tap the screen sometimes to select an item. The screen doesn’t do multi-touch, but it does support swiping for some actions (notably the adjustable interval skipping). The menus are customizable with several different skins and fonts that add to the player’s attractiveness. We also like that holding down the virtual Back button on the Now Playing screen takes you directly to the main menu.

The Apple iPod Touch (left) and Samsung P2 (right)

Content is King

We had no problems syncing and viewing movies from CinemaNow and Vongo to the P2, and it worked fine with Rhapsody To Go. Samsung’s Media Studio software gives you access to Datacasts, which are basically RSS feeds that you can download to your player. While this is an interesting idea, we’re not particularly impressed with the feature since you can’t update the feeds wirelessly. Samsung has its own content portal through which you can purchase movies and music – but like many of our favorite Korean products; it’s not available in the U.S.